Shi Ziling came out of the empty Ming sub-room, observed that there was no one, and then came out of the back of the Huilongguan wall. His technique of lifting and purifying was extremely light, and naturally it did not alarm anyone in the Taoist temple.

Huilongguan is not far from Nanying, where Shiziling belongs, and he unfolded his body all the way, and soon arrived at Nanying.

The soldiers in the barracks all got up early, and when everyone saw Shi Ziling entering the camp, they all saluted and greeted him.

Shi Ziling found his subordinate Wu Guang, the commander of the Qian, and asked him about the results of the search in the whole city last night, Wu Guang said: "Because General Shi did not return to the camp last night, the 5,000 men and horses of our battalion did not go out to participate in the search, and all of them were on standby in the camp. ”

"I heard that the brothers from the other battalion came back and said that they had not caught any assassins except for a few corpses. I heard that Lord Su was very angry, and blamed the two guards who were in charge of security in the city. ”

Shi Ziling asked, "Haven't General Wang and Commander Gu come back yet?"

Wu Guang shook his head and said, "No, they led the team to search for a night, and now they may be in the city guard mansion to recover their lives." General Shi, didn't you go to the castle guard? I heard that you killed an assassin last night?"

Shi Ziling nodded and said, "I heard that the assassins this time are very strong, and I think that the search effect with a large team of people may not be good, so I walked around the city alone for a night. I ran into one, but I didn't find anything else. I want to go back to the camp first to see the news, and now it seems that everyone has nothing to gain, so I will go to the city guard mansion to recover my life later. ”

"The team of the other battalion worked hard all night last night, and they will definitely rest today, if they want to continue the search today, it is time for you to go out, you go and tell the brothers to get ready. ”

Wu Guang agreed to go, although Shi Ziling was a little tired after a busy night, he still rushed to the city guard mansion to resume his life.

In the city guard mansion, other generals who led troops out to search have also returned, basically no gains, but a few corpses were found not far from the scene of the assassination of Nangong Xia, it seems that it should be the crossbow archer who ambushed Nangong Xia, I don't know who killed it.

In addition, Ma Dai's men also found a body by a small river near the west gate, the deceased was the owner of a nearby pawnshop, and it is said that a middle-aged man came to look for him that afternoon, and the two went out together and never saw him return home.

Su Bairen's face was tired, and he saw that everyone was almost there, and said: "Everyone worked hard all night, and only found a few corpses, but the most powerful masked swordsman has never been found. Where can a seriously wounded person flee?"

Ma Dai said: "Could it be that the man in black who was killed by Ziling is the masked swordsman?" Judging from the long sword he carried, the blade of his sword was wider than the sword used by ordinary people, and the wounds on the crossbow archers and the pawnshop owner were all caused by the wide blades, I estimate that they were probably killed by the man in black." ”

Su Bairen said: "I asked Nangong Xia that the masked killer who successfully attacked him used a very slender sword, and the man in black you said should be the one who blocked Nangong Xia when he was about to flee into the city guard, and this person's martial arts are slightly inferior to that masked swordsman." ”

"If, as Ma Dai said, it was this man in black who killed the crossbow archer, then this person is likely to be the mastermind of this murder to assassinate Nangong Xia. Unfortunately, he did not have any identity on him. General Shi, did you see his martial arts sect when you fought him?"

Shi Ziling said: "No, we were fighting in a dark bamboo forest at that time, I was afraid that he still had his comrades, and I wanted to solve him as soon as possible, so I shot a little heavier." I didn't expect to kill him with one punch, and I don't have a clue about the origin of his sect. ”

"However, since this person is likely to be the mastermind of buying a murderer to assassinate Nangong seniors, we can ask Nangong seniors to identify his body and see if we can see if he came from. ”

As soon as this remark came out, many people agreed.

Su Bairen immediately ordered someone to carry the body of the man in black to the room where Nangong Xia was recuperating in the back for him to identify, and then said: "According to the inference of the head of the Nangong family, that masked assassin is likely to be the famous killer of the 'Dark Path', 'Dark Emissary', what do you think?"

Zhao Xiong, the commander of the defending army, said: "This is very possible, it is very possible to seriously injure a top master like the master of the Nangong family, and only the killer of the 'Dark Dao' has this ability." ”

"And judging from the chain crossbows we found next to the body of the crossbow archer, each one is extremely well-made, and at a glance, we can see that the Dao is very powerful, and it is no wonder that a master like the head of the Nangong family is also on the Dao. With these chain crossbows, they were not in the possession of ordinary Assassins. ”

Shi Ziling said: "I was also ambushed a few days ago, according to the description of Nangong seniors last night, last night's assassin was very similar to the assassin who ambushed me that day, and I was lucky not to be injured that day. ”

"I remember that they also used chain crossbows, and these crossbows and bows should have been used by General Xu Sihai Xu under Lord Chen Gongzhao to study later, I wonder if Lu Dao is the same batch as the assassin this time?"

When everyone heard this, they all turned their eyes to Chen Gongzhao, but Chen Gongzhao said unhurriedly: "I have already sent someone to ask, and it is indeed the same kind of chain crossbow." But I remember that at that time, it seemed that someone from the 'Thirteen Villages of Jiangdong' did it, so it should have nothing to do with this incident. ”

Shi Ziling said: "Zhao Dutong has already said that this kind of chain crossbow is very rare, and it is likely to be a sharp weapon used by the 'Dark Way' to assassinate ambush masters. ”

"In addition, among the people who ambushed me last time, there was also a masked assassin with a slender sword in his hand, so I think that the assassin of Nangong's predecessor and the one who ambushed me should be the killer of the 'Dark Path', especially the masked swordsman, who should be the same 'Dark Messenger'. ”

Ma Dai took over the conversation and said, "Then why would Lord Chen insist that it was done by the people of the 'Jiangdong Thirteen Villages'?"

Chen Gongzhao said: "I heard Xu Sihai say that some of the blades and hidden weapons found on several corpses at that time seemed to be related to the people of the 'Jiangdong Thirteen Villages', and I heard that General Shi had a grudge against them, so it was inferred that the people of the 'Jiangdong Thirteen Villages' came to retaliate." Now that I think about it, maybe they bought off the killer of the 'Dark Path'. ”

Ma Dai said disapprenously: "Can a few thieves from the 'Jiangdong Thirteen Villages' afford to pay a lot of money to invite the famous 'Dark Path' to come out? ”

Zhao Xiong asked, "Then who will this mastermind mean by Lord Yima?"

Ma Dai said: "I don't know who has a grudge against Nangong Xia, but there don't seem to be many people who have a grudge against General Shi, right? I only remember that Lord Chen's third son made a big fuss in Deyue Tower a few days ago, and as a result, he had a conflict with the people of the Xiahou family, and unfortunately died in the hands of General Shi, who was uneven and drew a sword to help him, this feud should be quite big, right?"

Chen Gongzhao said angrily: "Are you saying that I paid the Dark Killer to kill Shi Ziling and Nangong Xia?

Su Bairen couldn't help but have a headache when he saw that the two were about to quarrel again, and when he was about to dissuade him, his subordinates reported that Nangong Xia had identified the corpse and confirmed that it was the man in black who intercepted him last night, but he didn't know this person.

Su Bairen didn't know what to do for a while, and some officials and generals on both sides were also helpless.

Su Bairen said: "Now it has been determined that this man in black is indeed one of the killers last night, and his death at the hands of General Shi can be regarded as an explanation for Nangong Xia." If he killed the crossbowmen because he wanted to kill them, then why did he kill the pawnshop owner?"

Shi Ziling said: "If I guess correctly, this pawnshop owner should be the contact person of the 'Dark Way' in Songhu City, of course, killing him is also to kill him, otherwise we can find some clues from his mouth." ”

Chen Gongzhao sneered: "Fortunately, this pawnshop owner was killed by the man in black, otherwise someone would have to rely on me." ”

Su Bairen said: "We just formed an ally with the Nangong family, but I didn't expect such a thing to happen, everyone said that this could be the ghost of the two major families in the northwest?"

Chen Gongzhao said: "Master Su is right, I also think that this assassination is to destroy the alliance we have reached with the Nangong family, but fortunately, the head of the Nangong family, Ji Rentianxiang, escaped and did not affect our alliance with the south." ”

Su Bairen said: "It would be nice if we could catch the injured 'Dark Emissary', so that we can not only give an explanation to the head of the Nangong family, but also find out from him the mastermind who ambushed General Shi last time." It's a pity that the 'Dark Path' has always been known for its secrecy, and Songhu City is so big and there are so many people, it is too difficult to find an unknown person. ”

Ma Dai said: "The only way to do this is to strictly check the entrances and exits, and then mobilize people to continue to search for suspicious people to see if we can find this killer." Fortunately, this man was also seriously injured, otherwise there would not be many people in our city who could deal with him. ”

Su Bairen said: "That's it, everyone has worked hard all night, let's go back and have a good rest first." ”

Now the crowd dispersed one after another. Shi Ziling also returned to the Yu family, and after briefly explaining what happened last night to the people of the Yu family, he went back to the room alone.

After he went back to the room to wash up, he ate something and changed his clothes, although he was a little tired, but he remembered the experience of healing people twice last night, especially the different true yuan condensation and operation methods of Nangong Xia and Kong Mingzi had a lot of inspiration and touches on him, and he became interested, and immediately meditated and practiced.